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PAGE 38 - “THE STAR”, Tuesday, April 5, 2016
MIRBOO Farm’s delicious
garlic lived up to its reputa-
tion when it won prizes for
all entries into the Fine Food
Awards last month.
Farm owner and operator Kirsten
Jones said her crops passed the test
in Melbourne when the three varieties
won two gold medals and one silver
for its brilliant bulbs.
“People enter their garlic from all
over Australia and vie for gold medals
in four categories; organic, non organ-
ic, hard neck and soft neck varieties,”
Ms Jones said.
“The awards are benchmarked so
gold medal winners are at the highest
standard. It is like judging wine.”
The Jones’ Rojo de Castro and
Spanish Roja varieties managed to
score a gold medal each at the Fine
Food Awards with their Foster Purple
variety earned a silver gong.
“We were so amazed with the re-
sults,” Ms Jones said.
“The soil in South Gippsland
means we can grow great garlic down
here. We operate by organic practices
and look after the soil by not adding
loads of chemicals. It is a lot of hands
on work but it is worth it.”
The award winning crop took seven
months from planting to competition.
The Jones family grows and harvests
the garlic before curing it for three
months. From there it is cleaned and
sent to market.
“I have hand cleaned over 800kg of
garlic this season,” Ms Jones said.
“They say it takes five years to un-
derstand commercial garlic growing.
We have just harvested our fifth crop
and it is coming to fruition now. We
have a better knowledge base as grow-
ers and our garlic has acclimatised
well.”
Ms Jones and her husband David
Jones are instrumental in organising
Meeniyan’s Garlic Festival which has
just received a community grant from
South Gippsland Shire Council.
THE Leongatha Li-
brary and Leongatha
Historical Society will
host noted historian
Ross McMullen on
Wednesday, April 13.
He will speak at the Le-
ongatha Library at 2.30pm
about World War One
General Pompey Elliott.
In his talk Mr McMul-
len will draw on his award
winning book Pompey El-
liott and share the story of
this remarkable Australian.
Pompey Elliott is of sig-
nificance to Leongatha as he
officially opened the Leon-
gatha Memorial Hall in 1926.
He was also a commander at
the battle of Fromelle in July
1916 at which 10 local men
died. It is essential to book
for this event.
In the evening of April
13, Mr McMullen will be
the speaker for the Leon-
gatha Historical Society’s
annual Anzac event at the
RSL.
This presentation will be
on Will Dyson, the subject
of another book by Mr Mc-
Mullen titled Will Dyson
Australia’s Radical Genius.
Will Dyson was Aus-
tralia’s first war artist and
is considered by many to
be the best. He produced
hundreds of Western Front
drawings showing a pro-
found empathy and sym-
pathy for the diggers.
He was wounded twice
while attempting to capture
the true horror of the war.
Mr Dyson’s reverence for
Australia’s soldiers, their
perseverance and exploits,
was enduring, but he ut-
terly detested war.
Official war historian
Charles Bean observed that
Mr Dyson experienced at
least 10 times more of the
real Western Front than
any other official artist,
British or Australian.
He felt inspired by the
Australian soldier ’s endur-
ance and accomplishments.
Mr Dyson wrote about
Australia’s soldiers as su-
perbly as he drew them.
He produced a book called
Australia at War. This is
not as well known but a
classic. In this book Mr
Dyson reproduced some
of his drawings with a
personal inscription on the
page alongside.
This presentation by
Mr McMullen will begin
at8pmandwillbeheldin
the upstairs meeting room
at the Leongatha RSL.
War
contribution:
General Pompey Elliott
will be the subject of a
talk hosted by the Leon-
gatha Historical Society
and Leongatha Library.
Noted historian to visit Leongatha
ENSURING
community
knowledge and input into de-
cision making is an important
part of managing and improv-
ing the natural environment.
Local representatives David Sut-
ton, Shannon Dwyer, Tricia Fleming,
Rick Rutjens and Kerry Matthews
joined 15 representatives from across
Gippsland recently at the first Commu-
nity Advisory Group meeting for 2016,
hosted by West Gippsland Catchment
Management Authority (WGCMA).
Representatives are broken into
two groups, north and south, and are
responsible for feeding community
knowledge and ideas into natural re-
source management plans and projects
prepared by WGCMA.
It also provides members the op-
portunity to learn more about natural
resource management and connect
with others in the area who are inter-
ested in the environment.
WGCMA board chair Angus Hume
said the advisory group members were
an important sounding board for the
organisation.
“Our community advisory group
members are a vital link between the or-
ganisation and the community,” he said.
“They give feedback and ideas into
some of the plans that we prepare, but
they are also advocates within their
communities for better natural resource
management.”
Members have been appointed to
the community advisory groups on a
three year term. The first meeting was
held on March 10.
“The groups are interested in a
range of topics including climate
change, pest plant and animal pro-
grams, environmental education, link-
ing the works that happen on farm with
the marine environment and more,” Mr
Hume said.
Northern Community Advisory
Group members include Chris Bowlen
from Glengarry, Jo Caminiti from
Cowwarr, Simone Louwhoff from
Traralgon South, Joshua Chikuse
from Pakenham, Dr David Nash from
Strzelecki, Tony Platt from Maffra, Dr
Amanda McLeod from Trafalgar and
Barry Rogers from Warragul.
Southern Community Advisory
Group members include Paul Smith
from San Remo, David Sutton from
Inverloch, Jeffrey Amos from Yarram,
Shannon Dwyer from Venus Bay, Tri-
cia Fleming from Loch, Clara Man-
daletti from Yarram, David McAninly
from Staceys Bridge, Jem Milkins
from Leongatha North, Rick Rutjens
from Berrys Creek, Deirdre Griepsma
from Inverloch and Kerry Matthews
from Dumbalk.
A GROUP of South
Gippsland
women
have dedicated their
time to sewing sani-
tary pads for girls in
third world countries.
The small team be-
gan sewing packs eight
months ago and have al-
most reached their target
of 100 which will be sent
to Cambodia in the com-
ing weeks.
Organiser Susan Mor-
row said she was inspired
to push the team after
learning about the extreme
poverty in Cambodia on
an episode of Australian
Story.
“At first we agreed to
make 50 kits but then I
watched Scott Neeson’s
story and how extreme the
poverty in Cambodia is so
I did more research about
his organisation, Cambo-
dia Children’s Fund.”
All sanitary packs will
be going to girls living in
the Steung Meanchey re-
gion of Cambodia where
families live amongst tip
rubbish and forage for
food in garbage in order to
survive.
“Girls miss five days of
a month when they are on
their periods, which adds
up to three months of a
year,” Ms Morrow said.
“Some girls are not
allowed inside or near
kitchens. Over there it is
very taboo. They are seen
as dirty and are sent out to
huts out of home.”
“Often they line their
Environmental focus: from left, Southern Community Advisory Group members Rick Rutjens, WGCMA
board member John Anderson, David McAninly, Kerry Matthews, Deidre Griespma, Tricia Fleming,
David Sutton, Jeff Amos, Shannon Dwyer, Clara Mandaletti and Paul Smith. Absent Jem Milkins.
Community cares for nature
Helping hands: from left, Janine Clark, Margaret Taylor, Glenice Wilson, Su-
san Morrow and Paula O’Loughlin with some of the many packs they have
sewn for the Days for Girls project.
Sanitary saviour: the contents of a Days for Girls
sanitary kit. To donate goods, drop by Number 9
Dream Cafe on Bair Street, Leongatha.
Saving girls
with sanitation
underwear with mud,
gravel, corn husks or mat-
tress filling just to go to
school during this time.”
The Days for Girls cam-
paign promotes sanitation
in third world countries
where girls have missed
out on opportunities due to
absence from classes.
By putting together
a Days for Girls sani-
tary pack, girls can use
the goods for three years
which ensures them ongo-
ing access to education and
improves the likelihood of
their future employment.
“We are giving girls
a right to dignity and op-
portunities. The cycle of
poverty is weakened when
girls stay in school,” Ms
Morrow said.
“It is a natural thing
that happens to all girls and
yet it is still such a taboo
over there. It is terrible.
Can you imagine sending
a 12 year old girl out in the
wild to stay alone in a hut
simply because she got her
period?”
Girls for Days South
Gippsland have been con-
structing kits for Steung
Meanchey girls and will
send off another load to
other impoverished coun-
tries in the future.
“I was embarrassed by
how naive I was in think-
ing everyone had access to
sanitary goods,” Ms Mor-
row said.
“It is something we
take for granted.”
Each kit has many
components and costs
about $10 to make. The
experienced sewers build
draw string bags packed
with a face washer, soap,
reusable fabric sanitary
pads, underwear, towels
and plastic bags.
Leongatha’s No 9
Dream Cafe is currently
taking materials and goods
for donation to the cause.
To get involved contact
Susan on 0400 199 983.
Garlic tastes gold
Great garlic: Mirboo Farm’s David Jones shows off his award win-
ning garlic which can be purchased at the Meeniyan Store.